Liberty Corner School Looks To The Future

Liberty Corner School is Looking to the Future with a New Playground & Time Capsule

Liberty Corner, NJ (April 20, 2021) — Liberty Corner School Parent Teacher Organization (LCS PTO) is excited to announce the completion of an outdoor project, which has been years in the making. The project includes the installation of a new eight bay swing set and a modern sculptural play system, the Level X, which brings climbing, sensory and tactile experience to the children.

The LCS PTO has been raising funds and planning for this initiative for over 3 years, raising more than $68,000 to fund the project. Long time LCS PTO sponsors also helped support this initiative - Steve Graul, owner of Castle Point landscaping, provided reduced landscaping rates and John Catapano, of John’s Painting, donated his services to paint the old swing set. Although, kids are not yet allowed to play on the outdoor playground equipment, due to Covid-19 restrictions, Co-Presidents Rachel Rosenblatt & Korie Caruso remained positive and did not let Covid stand in the group’s way of making this vision a reality.

“Postponing the project was never a consideration. We will all be together again soon, and this gives our community something to look forward to.” said Rachel Rosenblatt. “This playground will be a focal point of the community for years to come and a place for families to meet and interact. It is a tangible symbol of our commitment to our children and what we can achieve when we all work together.” said Korie Caruso.

This project was a team effort, and the Liberty Corner School PTO is grateful to Dr. Jim Oliver and Mrs. Pamela Lawrence for their continual support as well as The Bernards Township Board of Education who contributed funds towards the mulch expense and managed the project. Thank you also to the Shade Tree Commission for donating and planting 2 new trees, and every single family that has donated funds and time to the Liberty Corner PTO. The completion of this project marks the culmination of years of work by many people who turned their vision into a reality.

The 5th grade class of 2020 also helped make the new play space a reality. Due to Covid, the students were unable to celebrate their last year at LCS in the traditional manner, with a full-day celebration in June 2020. Instead, they took the money earned through fundraising efforts to help purchase the new bay of swings and two buddy benches. The LCS Class of 2020 truly represents the values learned from the school’s award-winning character education program by leaving a gift for the generations of students who come after them to enjoy.

Along with the anticipation of playing on the new equipment, Liberty Corner School is proud to be celebrating its first ever LCS Spirit Week, April 19-23, a week focused on community, fun & spirit. The week will include a virtual concert for the kids, a new tree planting and the burial of a time capsule to be opened in 25 years. The time capsule contents will focus on “we can change the world” and will symbolize putting covid behind us, as we look to the future.

“LCS Week was created to energize the LCS community and celebrate how special we are, even a pandemic cannot hold us back from being our best selves. The pandemic experience that we are going through is and will be a piece of our history that shapes our future. Capturing and remembering these experiences is important to learn and grow from. A time capsule is a container that does just that; it holds historic information or materials intended to communicate with future people. The Special Days committee asked each class to write a letter to future LCS students to discover, read, and enjoy everything that has happened in the 2020-2021 school year. They certainly will enjoy it and even more so, they will learn firsthand of LCS’s true character.” Said the school’s principal, Dr. Jim Oliver.

The mission of the Liberty Corner School PTO is to work collaboratively with our school and our teachers to support all students, by funding school wide programs and fostering a sense of community within our school through family and social events. Interested in learning more about how to support the PTO or become a sponsor? Visit www.libertycornerpto.org.